“thought criminals”: more arrests in Italy

THOUGHT CRIMINALS

Yep, you guessed it, Berlusconi’s government have gone from bad to worse with reasons to arrest activists: two weeks ago it was for “subversive
association” (SchNEWS 382) and now a new wave of arrests have occurred for “mental participation” in the Genoa demonstrations.

“It’s clear that not only those who materially took part in the devastation should be prosecuted, but also those who facilitated the acts or gave
strength to their purpose. These people should be prosecuted even if they didn’t conduct any material act.” – Italian judge, Elena D’Alosio.

On the morning of 4th December, investigations against 23 people were started by magistrates and 45 houses were raided. The accusations range from
devastation and depredation (crimes punishable with 8-15 years imprisonment) to possession of illegal weapons to, SchNEWS’ favourite, “mental
participation” and “psychological support” in the Genoa actions. The judge, D’Alosio, ordered preventative arrests for 9 of the 23 under investigation, four are under house arrest, six are obliged to remain at home and the remaining four have to present themselves at the police station.
Interestingly, all of these arrests have been ordered one and a half years after the relevant events.

‘Thoughtcrime’ is now a punishable offence in Berlusconi’s and Big Business’ Italy as some of the No Global activists under investigation but not in
custody are suspected of having offered psychological support to violent demonstrations. The judge has said that those who must respond to the charges of ‘devastation’ are not just those who participated physically but those who encouraged the crime and whose mere presence in demonstrations provides moral support to the more violent demonstrators. In the wise words
of D’Alosio “The behaviour of those who were on the scene of the riots, together with the most violent ones, gave strength to these people by their
very presence. Their acts were not crimes in themselves, but aided the criminal intentions of the others with their moral support.” So basically
Italian activists can now be legally nicked for being at a demo that turns violent or being part of an anti-capitalist collective. And even though the judge has admitted that such acts are not “fundamentally criminal” the activists are still under investigation.

The whole legal circus has seen arrests and detentions in over twenty Italian towns and this G8-related drive for justice coincides with an
interesting case: magistrates are attempting to close the case against the carabinieri accused of shooting Carlo Giuliani during the G8 protests. It
seems likely the carabinieri, Placanica, will be acquitted as Giuliani’s killing was ‘legitimate self-defence.’ So the murderers run free while the
thinkers get nicked.

from schnews 385

source: http://www.schnews.org.uk